on Dick Covey
NASA's Retirement Notice
NASA's Brief on Hubble Mission
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| Background Info on Dick Covey |
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| Richard O. Covey, "Dick", was born on Aug. 1st, 1946 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The second of five children born to Charles Dean Covey, Jr. and Patricia Oswalt Covey, both from the small town of Gravette, AR. Charles Covey, "Charlie", was a fighter pilot in the USAF. Patricia, "Pat", was a home maker with many hidden talents including painting and writing. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dick grew up a military brat, moving often as a youngster. His father settled down in Ft. Walton Beach, FL after retirement and that is where the majority of Dick's schooling occurred. He graduated from Choctawhatchee HS in Fort Walton as did all of his siblings. He then attended the United States Air Force Academy where he received a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Engineering in1968. He followed that up with a Masters in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Purdue University in 1969. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dick then received his pilot training and had further jet fighter training in F-100's in Phoenix, AZ. He then proceeded to serve on two tours of duty in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War where he flew a combined 339 combat missions in A-37's and A-7D's. He was a well decorated pilot after those tours including a Distinguished Flying Cross. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| He returned to the U.S. to be stationed at Alexandria, LA still flying the A-7D, where he set up house with his new wife Kahleen Allbaugh from Emmettsburg, Iowa. They soon had their first daughter Sarah. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dick had always had a master plan since Alan Shepard and John Glenn lit up his youthful imagination, and now that the world was calm and he was in the right position he launched that plan. His first goal was to become a test pilot just like the original seven astronauts had been. But that wasn't enough, he had to be the best because test pilots were coming a dime a dozen after the build up from Vietnam and the cold war with Russia. So he proved himself by being the best in his class in Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB, CA. That gave him the chance to come back to his home town of Ft. Walton Beach, FL where once again he proved himself worthy and was given the testing of the brand new F-15. It was the only one at Eglin AFB at that time. During this time was when his second daughter, Amy, was born. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| It was early in 1977 and the new Space Shuttle program at NASA was gearing up to be a reality. NASA though needed more astronauts since most of those involved in Apollo were retired, to old, or not strong enough to fly in space again. They sent out the word and pilots, scientist, engineers, and anyone else with a few credits to his or her name applied. Dick was one of them. The process was rigorous and tidious but in January of 1978 he was selected as an Astronaut Candidate by NASA. He was in for a long training and evaluation period which he passed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| He had made it to the ball game, but he had to wait until he was put in to hit to get a chance to fly the most awesome bird on this earth, the Space Shuttle. Young astronauts are used as support personnel for other shuttle flights. Dick was first used as a chase pilot for the first three missions of the shuttle. In this capacity you fly along side the shuttle before take off to escort the shuttle in if there is an emergency landing at the Cape or follow the shuttle in at landing to help the shuttle pilot gage distance to the ground during its steep approach. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dick did finally get his wish and flew in the shuttle four times starting in 1985 and ending in1993, including two missions that you may recall. One of his missions was the first mission to launch after the Challenger tragedy and another was the mission sent to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. There is information on all his missions on the "Missions" link at the bottom of the page, as well as, links to photos, movies, NASA, and other important space missions including the Hubble Space Telescope. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dick's NASA's Data Sheet (1992) NASA's Retirement Notice NASA's Brief on Hubble Mission |
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